Hacker
by imjusttori
Summary: Nikki Harris, C-Sec Cyber Security Specialist and agent for the Shadow Broker. Gets thrust into the hunt for Saren when Shepard and team stumble across her during the attack on Eden Prime. ME rewrite that will include all three games, written from Nikki's POV, and lots of liberties taken. Posts will be irregular at first, to get more regular if adequate reader interest is shown.
1. Prologue

You'd think the life of a hacker would be a glamorous one — with lots of money and fast cars and always surrounded by pretty people.

It's not.

Okay, so it may be if you're working for the bad guys… or you _are _a bad guy. Whatever.

I'm not.

I was hired by C-Sec as a "Cyber Security Specialist" because of all the spiffy awards and commendations I got while in their Advanced Programming school. In the beginning I knew they had hired me because I was human, and they needed to diversify — I showed some potential in school, so I was a shoe-in, not really expected to amount to much of anything.

Boy, did I prove them wrong.

I've been here ten stinking years and now I'm the top hacker. Okay… "_Cyber Security Specialist_"… because paid hacker doesn't sound as nice. But it's what I do.

See, the automated security protocols around all sensitive data are really good, but not the best. I'm here to try and get around those automated defenses and firewalls, and then write the programs to prevent anyone else from doing the same.

I'm also responsible for finding the scumbags trying to hack anything else in the system, and notifying the right C-Sec department so said scumbag can be put behind bars.

While it's boring most of the time, it can be pretty satisfying — knowing I'm helping to make the Citadel a safer place.

But that's just my day job.

Five years ago I was contacted by an agent for the Shadow Broker, who told me that the Broker himself wanted to meet me for an "interview". I was young and stupid and was pressured into going by the agent, not realizing that I really had a hit on me. Any number of things could have happened, but luckily fate was on my side.

I work with all different sorts of aliens on a daily basis, and I'm not afraid of any of them.

I was afraid of the Shadow Broker.

I'd never seen his species before, and I haven't since. I assumed he must be ancient — long lived like the Asari — and my respect, out of fear, was high; because this guy was huge. And scary… like, straight from hell scary.

Once I got past my initial fear — and believe me when I say I was scared shitless the entire time I was there — the Shadow Broker told me he was impressed by my skills; said they were the best he'd ever seen. He told me I was the only person to have ever hacked his intel network. When I admitted I hadn't realized the system I had gotten into was _his_, he seemed surprised, but he believed me. I felt honored that he was impressed with my abilities, and even moreso when he asked me to become an agent for him.

The alternative was a slow, painful death, which he described in great detail on how it would be carried out. So I took the job.

But I'd put enough of his information brokers in jail because of how some of them got their intel, as well as how they distributed it. I wasn't going to be one of them. I told him I'd only give the information to the people who it would benefit the most — even if it meant a lower amount of money. He agreed, amused that I had the audacity to put terms on my employment. I was to collect information for him with my position on the Citadel.

I didn't like it, but in my line of work, there were things you came across and couldn't do anything about. Having a direct link to the Shadow Broker would change that.

So fast forward five years to present day. I'm still in this mundane job, spiked with occasional bouts of fun and a feeling of self-righteousness at being part of the greater good.

I led a good life, had great friends, and although I wasn't uber rich, I was comfortable. My life was pretty normal — as normal as can be for someone living on the Citadel — until I went back home to Eden Prime to visit my dad.

My whole world changed that day…


	2. Chapter 1

****AUTHOR'S NOTE** **

**This chapter has only been through one beta and there are still a few minor edits to be made. Please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes (however I would appreciate if they were pointed out so that I can make the fix)**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"We're approaching the spaceport Miss Harris. Do you have transport to your destination?" the shuttle pilot called back to me.

Every damn year for the past six years when I visited home on Eden Prime, I had the same shuttle pilot from the docking station above the planet to the spaceport on the surface. And every damn year I had to endure being called _Miss Harris_.

"My dad's picking me up, as usual." I called back. "Are you ever going to stop calling me Miss Harris? You know how annoying I think that is."

I heard a laugh. "Not a chance."

"Fine, I'm going to start calling you _Mr. Cortez_ instead of Steve." I snapped. I knew I was being childish, but damn, I hated being called Miss. I wasn't an old lady.

"You know I wouldn't mind that." He responded.

_God dammit._

Ten minutes later, we landed.

"See you in a week on your trip back, Miss Harris." Cortez said as I grabbed my bag and waited for the shuttle's door to open. "Make sure you tell your dad Happy Birthday for me."

I rolled my eyes before giving him a smile. "Sure thing. See you in a week."

A short walk and wait later, I got onto the tram that would take me to the main part of the colony.

Once on the other side, I stepped off the tram and closed my eyes, breathing in the fresh air with a smile on my face. I'd become used to the air on the Citadel, though it was filtered and recycled over and over. Nothing beat the smell of fresh air, especially when that's what you were raised on.

Opening my eyes, I spotted my dad's beat up pickup truck; he and my mother had brought it with them from Earth when they came here. Once they got it onto the planet, dad had rigged it to run on electricity instead of gasoline. He definitely had a screw loose to still be using it, and had to have been the _only _person on the planet — or the known galaxy — to still be driving a vehicle instead of flying a skycar.

My dad and his eccentricities.

"Hey daddy," I said, walking into his open arms and holding him tight in a hug. I was 27 and I loved and missed my father to no end; so yes, I still called him daddy. And no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get him to come live with me on the Citadel. Conversely, he couldn't convince me to come back here for good. Nothing but farming and scientific expeditions. _Blech._

"Hey sweetheart." He returned the hug and kissed the top of my head. "How was the trip?" He let me go and turned to the truck.

"Same as always." I grinned, throwing my backpack into the bed of the truck before hopping into the cab. "How have you been? Happy birthday by the way."

He chuckled. "Thanks. And I've been the same as always. Nothing new to report."

_Good ol' dad. _"So, what are we doing today? Anything in particular you want to do? Can I cook you something?"

Dad chuckled again. "You cook about as well as your mother, if I remember correctly."

I frowned. "Hey now, I've taken some cooking classes. I've gotten better!"

"I'll take your word for it." He started the truck and headed down the path towards the compound he lived in. "I figured we'd just order in some pizza and catch a vid or two today. I'm not feeling so well."

Worry washed over me — he usually didn't say he wasn't feeling well unless he was _really_ feeling bad. "Dad, what's wrong?" I asked quickly, looking him over to see if I was missing anything.

"Nothing, just feeling a little off is all." He replied. I knew he was lying, but I didn't push the issue. He'd let me know if something was really, _really_ wrong. "I think I worked too much yesterday."

"Mmmhmm…"

"Now, Nikki…"

I put on my best angry face."Don't you 'Now, Nikki' me." I scolded, pointing my finger at him like a mother disciplining a child. "If you're not feeling well, you should go to the doctor!"

I watched as he rolled his eyes. "He's a quack." He grumbled.

"He is not a quack, you're just a wimp." I teased. "I'll let it slide for now. But if you start feeling worse, promise me you'll go?"

He glanced over at me; his features softening as he undoubtedly saw the worry on my face. "Alright, I promise."

"Even after I leave?" I clarified. "Mother isn't around to nag you about this stuff anymore."

"You don't have to remind me."

"I'm sorry daddy, it's just-"

"I know, you love me and don't want me to be sick." He finished. "I promise, I'll go see the doctor if I start feeling any worse." He stopped the truck in front of the prefab we called home. I smiled up at it- even though it looked just like millions of other prefabs across the galaxy, it still seemed a little different to me. It was the place where I was born; it held all of my childhood, which I'd left behind at 14 and went to the Citadel on my mother's insistence. My father was supportive but I was always his little girl. He didn't feel comfortable sending me so far away, but the farm needed looking after and my parents couldn't afford to just up and leave themselves.

I had a skill set far beyond what this planet could ever nurture for me. Sometimes I almost resented my mother for sending me away and then leaving my dad. But I can't bring myself to fully hate her, because without her insistence, I'd have become a farmer, and not so happy with my life. Instead I've got a great position with Citadel Security, and I'm one of the most sought after people for anything to do with cyber- warfare.

"Let's go inside, you can drop your bag off in your room while I order the pizza." My dad interjected on my reminiscing.

"Sounds like a plan, daddy."

* * *

"Hey, dad! There's a rerun of Blasto 5 coming on, wanna watch that?" I yelled. I was in the living room, setting up the fold away tables for our dinner while browsing through upcoming vids. Dad was in the kitchen putting the pizza onto plates.

"Sure, sweetheart, whatever you want to watch is fine." He yelled back.

I stood with my hands on my hips as he entered the living room. "No, it's your birthday, what do you want to watch?"

He grinned, his eyes twinkling. "You'll call me old."

"And I'd be right." I smiled back as we took our seats. "What do you want?"

"Just put on the news for now. The local channel is doing a piece on the Prothean artifact that was found here recently."

I nearly choked on my pizza. "A Prothean artifact was found here?" I managed to cough out.

Dad nodded. "Yes, and they think it's a beacon of some sort." He took a bite of his pizza and glanced at the vidscreen. "Look…." His voice muffled by food.

The reporter on the screen was standing in front of what looked like the side of a mountain that had been carved away. Mixed in the rubble was a tall, dark structure that was very obviously not made by nature. It looked like workers were preparing to put the device onto a trolley to move it. _That must be the beacon._

"Thanks Suzanne. I'm Dianna Allers from the Alliance News Network giving exclusive coverage on this historical find. I'm here with Professor Simon Powell from Cambridge University in London on Earth, our leading expert in Prothean technology. Professor, is it true that this artifact is Prothean? Or could it be something left behind from a civilization that previously inhabited this planet?" The camera turned to focus solely on the professor.

"There are several markers on this artifact that indicate it is distinctly Prothean." He replied. His tone was genuinely excited, like a kid on Christmas morning. "We believe it to be a beacon, similar to the one we found on Mars. If it is, the information it contains could be astounding. We will, of course, need to study it further."

"Of course, Professor." The reporter cut in. "Will you continue to study it here on Eden Prime?"

"Oh heavens, no." He replied, sounding disgusted. "While the facilities and people have been extremely accommodating, there just isn't the room, equipment, or sheer manpower needed to properly study this. The Alliance is making plans with the Citadel Council to move the artifact to a different location soon enough."

The reporter went on to ask the professor a few more questions, but I turned to my dad. "I know they're excited and all, but I'm surprised the Alliance allowed a reporter to come here and do this." I gestured toward the vidscreen. "Don't you think that's a bit of a risk?"

"Look at you, Miss Security expert." He teased. "I think it's alright. Why not show off to the rest of the galaxy that we can contribute. I bet it'll help us get a seat on the council, if the crack-pots running the show are willing to share that is."

I shook my head. "That's not what I mean. Think about it daddy; this colony is on the fringes of the terminus systems. How many times have there been random pirate and raider attacks? Announcing that we have a priceless, intact_,_ potentially working piece of Prothean technology within their reach is a stupid idea." I huffed. _Freaking idiots._

"Oh calm down." He chided, patting my leg. "I'm sure the Alliance is on their way as we speak to pick up the thing, and if any pirates land in the meantime, there are Alliance Marines stationed here to hold them off. We'll be fine."

"If you say so…" I mumbled. I had a bad feeling in my gut about the whole situation, and I didn't like that my dad could potentially be in the middle of it. "Hey… let's go for a walk, work off some of the calories from the pizza."

"I'd like that."

We walked down to the far end of the compound, mostly in silence, just enjoying each other's company, when we heard a terrible screeching noise — like the worst feedback from a microphone ever. We both covered our ears and doubled over in pain, looking around to see what could possibly be making the god-awful noise.

A few torturous seconds later it stopped.

"What the fuck was that?" I exclaimed, looking around again. I noticed other people out and about with similar expressions.

"Watch your mouth, Nikki." My dad scolded.

"Sorry… it's just…" I trailed off as I spotted something moving at the end of the road. I squinted, trying to bring it into focus.

It looked like a person in armor, although the more I studied it, the more I realized it wasn't a person at all. The humanoid thing had arms and legs, but it looked like it was wearing a hood, and where the face should have been was a singular orb of light. A quiet hush fell over the few people that were outside as several more stepped into view.

Horror ran through me as I realized these creatures were carrying weapons.

"Daddy, we need to get out of here. NOW!"

"Wha-" My dad started to ask as the creatures suddenly opened fire.


	3. Chapter 2

"Dad!" I yelled, grabbing his hand and activating the cloaking program I had recently installed on my omni-tool. In a second, the cloaking field enveloped us both, providing us with a visual camouflage.

_Please don't let them have any infrared scanners… if they do we're dead. _

My dad froze in place. When he finally spoke, his voice sounded terrified. "Nikki?" I pulled him along, knowing he was just as scared that he could no longer see me as he was of the aliens that had just shown up.

"It's a cloaking field dad," I explained as quietly as I could while pulling him behind a retaining wall, well out of the way from the gunfire. The field failed a split second after we ducked from view; I honestly hadn't expected it to last that long.

"How…." He seemed so stunned that he couldn't finish the question, although I knew where he was going.

"I can't really tell you… classified and all that jazz." I lied. He looked at me, dumbfounded. "Dad, would you please get _down_!?" I hissed, pulling him down in a crouch next to me. "Do you want to get shot?" He continued to give me the deer-in-the-headlights stare.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." My dad finally found his voice, although it was small and timid. "I know you've had training for all this… I just… I never…." He looked around trying to find the rest of his sentence. After a moment he just shrugged.

_Guess that little bit of combat training from C-Sec really _was _worth something. _

I activated my omni-tool again, scanning the area for the closest creature, hoping to get enough of a signature that I could later figure out what these things were. Unfortunately, my scanner was jammed. I growled in frustration, tracing the jamming signal, trying to figure a way around it.

"Nikki…" My dad said slowly.

"What?" I snapped, looking up at him, my expression turning from frustration to '_Oh, shit' _in an instant. There was a creature towering over us, it's massive, one-eyed head seemingly staring at us.

In that instant that I realized the creature wasn't an alien as I knew them - it was a machine. Nothing like any mech I knew either, but this thing - with the cables and even some exposed wires - was a machine; which meant I could do something about it. Before the strange mech could raise it's weapon, I activated my omni-tool, causing a pulse of energy to arc into it, charring circuitry and disabling it, for the moment.

"Dad, _go_!" I urged him. "Get back home, lock the door and hide. I'll be there as soon as I can." I wasn't even focused on him as I quickly found the location of the machine's motherboard. I intended to hack this son of a bitch.

"Nikki, I'm not leaving you-"

"I can handle myself." I grumbled, initializing programs to crack this thing. "I need to figure out what these things are and why the hell they're killing people."

He put his hand on my shoulder. "Sweetheart, we can take it with us. Let's go!"

"If this thing gets up in the next minute we'll be up shit creek weather we're here or twenty feet from it. My omni-tool can't handle another overload yet, especially one that large." I snarled out as I popped a cable out from it's neck and into a port on it's chest, hoping to bypass some of the circuitry I'd damaged.

My dad, meanwhile, just stood there, too shocked at the situation to do much else. "Dad, if you're not going to go, can you at least keep an eye out for more of these things? I may need to cloak us again so we can move in a jiffy."

That seemed to shake him from panic mode. "Alright." He looked around from our hiding place, and suddenly I was glad he was there. If one could sneak up on us like this one did, another surely could.

It took me another two minutes to get through the machine's security - and there was a hell of a lot of it, including several failsafes that looked like they were set to wipe the things memory if anyone were to get past them. I had written something similar for the Alliance's N7 soldier's omni-tools so I was able to work around it pretty fast.

Finally I got through to the core programming, and it asked for a command.

"Command… command…. _dammit._" I growled out in frustration. I had just reacted; not thinking about what I really wanted the thing to do.

_If I can get this thing to target it's friends, dad and I might actually have a chance to get away…_.

I typed in a few command codes, but before I brought it back online, I copied the contents of its memory core onto my omni-tool, then uploaded the hack.

"God, if you're out there _please_ let this work." I mumbled under my breath as I powered the thing on.

The flashlight making up its face lit back up, and the thing slowly stood. It looked at me and I took my father's hand, readying to cloak us should the thing attack.

It cocked its head to the side and made a garbled noise; a lot like the sound a modem or computer board makes while it's processing data.

"Can you understand me?" I asked it. Again it replied with the noise, this time sounding a little different. I tried a different tactic, typing in my omni-tool and sending a transmission directly to it.

"This unit is awaiting orders." It suddenly said in a robotic voice. I grinned and my dad looked astonished.

"What are you?" My dad asked it. The thing turned its head to look at him.

"We are Geth."

I bit back my initial reaction. "Look, before we ask more questions, are there any more of you around here? I need some answers but I don't want to get shot to pieces."

"Negative. All other platforms are currently headed toward Prothean beacon." It responded. A warning on my omni-tool noted an intrusion on the firewalls I had set up to prevent this thing from going back. Something else entirely was trying to get this geth back to hostile.

"Why are you here?" I asked, trying to countermeasure as it spoke. I couldn't believe I had just hacked a freaking Artificial Intelligence… that wasn't supposed to be possible.

"Geth are under orders of the Old-Machine, Nazara, following Saren Arteruis-Spectre." The flaps on its head moved energetically as it spoke. "Geth seek to bring the (gods) Old Machines back from dark space. The Prothean beacon holds information to achieve this result."

My dad looked deep in thought. "I know the name Arterius…. He's a turian! The council is going to have a field day when they find out he's working with the geth and attacking a human colony!"

I started to glance through the information this geth was storing, stopping short when I came across schematics for bombs. Opening the file I skimmed through it fast, pausing in fear when I realized what I was reading.

"Dad… we can worry about Saren later." I looked up from my omni-tool, trying to figure out how to tell my dad our home was about to be destroyed. "It uh… it looks like Saren has bombs at the spaceport. He plans on leveling the colony."

"How the hell does Saren think he's going to get away with this?!" My dad asked in frustration. "The security feeds from all over the colony are going to give him away!"

"The geth... or Saren, I can't tell which… their ship is sending out a massive jamming signal. All outgoing communications are knocked dead before they can go anywhere." The bombs looked easy enough to disable, but I had to get to them first. I turned to the machine. "Geth, can you take me to these bombs?"

The geth stood there, quiet. I wondered what was going through its head... well, chest. Its chest held the main CPU.

"It is your intention to save this colony." It stated. Or it may have been asking. The thing had no inflection.

"Innocent people don't deserve to die, do they?" I wasn't sure if the geth reasoned the same way as organics did, but I could be hopeful, right?

"It is the only logical course. When the Old-Machines return from dark space, they will destroy all organic life. Organic life will desire to self-preserve. Destruction of this colony is the only course of action to prevent additional organics from discovering the Old-Machines plan."

My jaw hung open. Fanatically religious artificial intelligences willing to kill for their beliefs…. Who woulda thunk it?

"Can you at least tell me where the bombs are?" I asked. If I could get to them quick enough I could disarm them.

"Transmitting coordinates." The geth's flashlight face blinked several times and my omni-tool pinged as it received the data.

"Thanks. Can you do us a favor and not tell your buddies what we're up to?" I asked, hopeful again.

"All other platforms are currently connected to this unit. Geth have been attempting to reintegrate runtimes within this platform into the collective. Your firewalls are impressive."

"Thanks?" I said, not sure if that was a compliment. "So, all the other geth on the planet already know that I'm going to try and disarm the bombs?"

"Affirmative. Current calculations show that you will not reach the bombs in sufficient time to disarm. You are not perceived as a threat."

"Great. Well… um… Geth, it's been great talkin' to ya' but we really have to go. See ya' around!" I hit the final program to make sure the "auto-target other synthetics" hack stuck, then grabbed my dad's arm and pulled him along with me. After we were out of sight from the Geth, I stopped and double checked the coordinates of the bombs.

"Nikki, what are we going to do?" My dad asked, voice trembling. I looked at him, my heart breaking to see him so scared. It's not every day you see the person who grew up protecting you in such a helpless state.

"_I_ am going to go diffuse those bombs. _You_ are going to go home, get the truck, and get as far away from here as possible. Hopefully there's enough time for you to escape the blast radius if I can't get those bombs disarmed in time." I replied, confident I could get it done based on the schematics I got from the geth.

_And hopefully I can _get _there in time. _

"No." My dad said forcefully.

"Dad…" I whined. I _really _didn't want to argue with him on this.

"No, I can't let you do that!" He protested, his eyes beginning to water. It killed me to see him so upset.

"If I don't we're both dead!" I yelled. "Don't you want to live, dad?"

"Why does it have to be you?" He asked, tears leaking from his eyes. "I've already lost your mother, I'm not going to lose you too."

"Daddy, _please_, just trust me. I'm good with things like this, it's my job for christ's sake." I was twisting the truth a little - I really only sat behind a desk, but I knew he needed to hear that I normally disarmed bombs to get him to remotely listen. "I love you, daddy, but I'm not going to let you or anyone else here die because I ran. As of right now, we are the only ones who know about these bombs. _You_ may be the only chance we have to save other colonists if those bombs _do_ go off."

His eyes softened, but still held a sadness to them. "My beautiful baby girl, all grown up." He touched his hand to my cheek. "I'm not going to make you promise to come back to me, because…. Well…"

"I know." I closed my eyes against the sting of tears, then took a deep breath that did nothing to calm me down for what I was about to do. "I love you, daddy. Promise me you'll go as fast as you can." I opened my eyes and pulled him into a hug, knowing this was very possibly the last time I'd ever get to.

"I love you too Nikki." He replied, holding me tight. "Go, get to those bombs before it's too late." He finished quietly. We stood there for another few moments, both of us reluctant to let go.

I pulled away first, and he finally let me go. "Get out of here and take as many people with you as you can, daddy."

"I will, sweetheart." He half waved a goodbye before heading back down the lane towards our home. I watched him for a few seconds, longing to go with him, but knowing fate had brought me back home for a reason.

Blowing out a breath in an another attempt to calm myself, I turned and started jogging toward the spaceport.

_Whatever god is out there, please let me make it there in time…. please…_


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N-** Thanks for sticking with me everyone! Had some issues with Google docs (which is where this story lives while I'm writing it) and I wasn't able to get to this chapter to edit it for a LOOONNG time. I'm glad I didn't post it in the meantime though because it's much better now.

Shoutout to Lachdannen and Mizdirected for making this chapter awesome!

* * *

"Come on, fucker!" I yelled at the tram control. Someone had locked it, and the encryption code on the startup program was a tough one to crack. "Yes!" I exclaimed as the patch I'd created finally worked.

"Put your hands in the air and turn around slowly!" A deep, commanding voice said from behind me. I complied, having a sneaking suspicion I had a gun trained on me.

I slowly turned to find not just one, but three rifles pointed at me by three Human Alliance soldiers. A fourth was holding up an unconscious turian using his biotics to aid him. The turian looked like he had seen better days; his nose and temple caked in dried navy colored blood, and his face plates looked as if he had some major swelling going on behind them.

_What the hell did they do to him?_

My eyes widened and I chewed my lip as I contemplated the possibilities. Did they cause his injuries? If so, what had they done to him? And why were they taking him with them? _No_, he had to be part of their team and had gotten injured. That was the only logical explanation.

I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

The male human closest to me stepped forward. "What are you doing here?" He indicated the tram controls with his rifle.

"They were locked, so I've been trying to override them." I said, my hands still raised and my voice much steadier than I felt. "I need to get to the other side, there are bombs set to level this colony. I may have been born here, but I sure as hell don't plan on dying here."

"How do you know there are bombs?" demanded the only woman in the group. "Commander, she could be working with the geth." She had one of those butchy, 'I'm-a-total-Bitch' faces that just screamed hostility towards anything and everything.

My jaw literally dropped. "Why would I be working with the geth?" I snapped, shock turning to anger and outrage that this stranger would assume such a thing. "They're busy destroying my home and killing the people I know and love. Why the fuck would I do that?"

"You could just be saying that to throw us off." The other man behind a rifle spoke up, his tone accusatory.

_What's with these people? I'm human for Christ's sake..._

"If you aren't working with the geth, how did you know about the bombs?" The commander asked cautiously. He was a man assessing the situation. I felt like he didn't really think I was working with the geth, but he had to be sure before he would trust me.  
"I was able to hack the information from one of the geth units." I replied, cringing as all four soldiers' expressions went from distrust to shock.

"You what?" The commander asked, his tone full of disbelief.

"I was able to fry the circuits of one of the geth units and I uploaded an override program that gave me access to it's memory core." I answered rapidly, partly out of fear that I wouldn't reach the bombs in time to disarm them, but mostly because the soldiers didn't seem to believe me. "I've got all the data on my omni-tool, and I would be more than happy to show you everything, but can we please get over to those bombs and disable them?" I begged.

The commander continued to look at me, and it was hard to determine what he was thinking. I knew what I was telling them was a lot to process, but I was frustrated they weren't actually doing anything.

"Look, I can't defend myself against the three of you, and I don't have any weapons, so can you at least stop aiming at me?" I asked, exasperated that I still had three guns trained on me.

The woman and young man looked to the commander, whose gaze never left mine. After a moment he nodded and lowered his rifle; the other two lowered theirs as well. I allowed my hands to fall to my sides slowly.

"What's your name?" the commander asked.

"Nikki Harris. I'm a Cyber Security Specialist for C-Sec, on leave visiting my father." I responded. He had only asked for my name, but I knew what questions followed; Where are you from? What are you doing here?; and so on.

The Commander studied me for a moment before responding. "Alright then, Miss Harris, we're headed to the spaceport, and if there are bombs, you get to be first in line to disarm them." He took a few steps towards me, each step making me want to cringe from the power it exuded. The guy commanded attention just by being there, let alone anything he may have actually done. He got his face very close to mine and in barely more than a whisper said, "We'll be watching you. One wrong move and you'll be getting a bullet through your skull."

_Gulp_.

"Do I make myself clear?" He finished menacingly.

"Crystal," I replied. I knew I couldn't get anything more than that out. My whole body trembled, knowing full well this man, this soldier, would not hesitate to kill me if I got in his way or jeopardized his mission. I did my best to compose myself, but spectacularly failed.

_Funny, I was only ever this scared in the Shadow Broker's presence._

The commander backed away from me before speaking again. "All right, Miss Harris, if you would be so kind as to get us over to the spaceport now," he indicated the controls with his rifle.

I nodded and turned back to the controls, fumbling with them as my hands shook in fear. I took a deep breath to attempt to calm my nerves. After a few tries, I finally got the tram started and we made our way over to the spaceport in record time, thanks to my override of the safety controls. As soon as we got off the tram, bitch-face spotted the first bomb.

She pointed to an alcove next to a flight of stairs. "Looks like she was right about the bombs, Commander!" the woman said, her tone a mix of excitement and fear.

"Well, Harris, time to show off your technical skills." The commander indicated the bomb with his rifle. He turned to the rest of his team. "Lieutenant, hand Nihlus to Jenkins and go scout for other bombs. Williams, go with him," he ordered.

I already had the electronics cover off the bomb and was working through the garbage data as his team dispersed. Before long I was able to get into the core programming and disable it. "Piece of cake." I mumbled.

I pulled up the set of coordinates for the rest of the bombs to see which way we should go next, when a warning flashed on my omni-tool. All four bombs were linked, and suddenly the remaining three went into a countdown.

"Commander! We need to get to the other bombs, and fast." I yelled, running over to him. "I have this one disabled, but I think doing so has inadvertently triggered an auto-countdown on the remaining ones. These things are going to go off in three minutes!"

"Dammit!" The commander exclaimed. "Alright, let's move, people!"

We didn't have far to go, but we ran the whole way. I spotted the lieutenant hunched over the second bomb, working frantically. I looked over his shoulder to see if I could help him, but he seemed to have it under control.

"Take cover!" Williams shouted, pointing her rifle away from our little group and firing. I spared a glance at where she was shooting; at least three geth units had set up along the tramway and seemed determined to not let us defuse the bombs.

"Miss Harris, take this over, I'll provide cover!" The lieutenant exclaimed. He pulled out his rifle and moved over a step to give me room to work.

I took his place and worked quickly, trying to ignore the klaxon of alarms and gunfire all around me. I jumped a few times, yelping as stray shots ricocheted near me on the ground or on the housing of the bomb.

I punched in the final code and grinned as the bomb powered down. Unfortunately, the countdown on the other two continued.

"Two more," I said to myself, looking around for them. As soon as I spotted them I cloaked and stayed low, running along the wall to stay out of the crossfire between the humans and the geth across the tram track. The bombs were lined up perfectly to chain react, with the worst of the destruction at the spaceport, however the colony itself was just below said spaceport. The explosion would destroy everything.

"Where the hell did she go?" The commander yelled. My cloak failed just as I reached the next bomb.

"She's at the next bomb!" The lieutenant shouted.

_Good job, biotic-boy wonder. Way to make me an easy target, you asshole._

"How did she get over there so fast?" he added.

"I don't know; just make sure she stays covered." The commander ordered. I thanked the powers that be that he had some sense.

I got it disabled even faster than the one before, and then cloaked once more as I ran to the last bomb. The rest of the team followed, taking cover behind the bomb as they fought the last of the geth units. The commander stood and took aim, but quickly crouched back down with a hiss as he took a hit.

"Commander, are you okay?" Williams asked fearfully as she took out the geth who had shot him.

"I'm fine." He replied, a shimmer of blue going over him as his shields recharged. "The round took out my shields. How's the bomb coming, Harris?" He asked impatiently.

"I'm almost there," I grumbled. "It would be a lot easier to work if I didn't have the Alliance breathing down my back." I was almost through, so it didn't really matter. But still, it was the principal of it all.

"Yeah, and I'm sure it would be just as easy for you to set this last one off, killing us all." Williams replied.

"Which would be a really swell idea if I was suicidal. Since I'm not, I'm opting to disable the fucking thing." The commander took a final shot and the team stood as the last of the geth fell. A second later the bomb powered down.

"Good work, Harris." The commander said, holding out his hand to help me stand from my crouched position.

I took his hand and allowed him to pull me up. "Thanks…." I said dismissively. I studied the commander's face, recognition slowly dawning on me. "You're… Commander Shepard!" I gasped. I was in the presence of a legend, the poster child of the Alliance, the hero of the Skyllian Blitz. "How… why are you… the beacon!" I blurted out, my mind racing too much to form a coherent sentence.

Shepard arched a brow. "Just how do you know about the beacon?"

"It was all over the local news earlier!" I exclaimed. "The Alliance sent you to pick it up? That's just..." My mind continued to race, and I started to pace back and forth. "Why would they send you? Did they know the colony was going to be attacked?" I looked at him impatiently.

He looked at me incredulously, as if he couldn't believe I'd be asking him that. "I don't know." He finally admitted. "What I do know is that it's a damn good thing they did send me. What else do you know about the beacon?"

I shrugged. "Not much, just what the news said. It's prothean, and there were plans to move it off world for more study."

"Commander, we should probably get to the docks," the lieutenant cut in. "I can radio Joker to meet us there."

"No," Shepard said, turning to the other man. "We don't know if the beacon is actually there or if the area is secure. I'll call him when we get there." He turned back to me. "Any other pertinent information you'd like to share with us?"

I contemplated for a moment before blurting out, "We're probably going to find Saren Arcturius around here somewhere, frantically trying to load the beacon onto his ship." The commander's eyes bulged again in surprise. "The geth I hacked said that they were here under Saren's orders."

"Alright then, we have someone to validate the dock-worker's story if Nihlus here doesn't make it." Shepard's expression became drawn, exhaustion evident in his features. "We need to get to the beacon. Harris, stick close to Jenkins and Nihlus in case things gets hairy. Williams, Kaidan, on point with me." The commander looked at me one last time before handing me his pistol. "Since you're C-Sec I assume you've had weapons training?"

"Only the basics with pistols and sub-machine guns." I said as I took the pistol. "But that was ten years ago.I'm not your normal, everyday cop."

"Great…" The commander replied. "Just… only use this in self-defense." He pleaded.

"Don't worry, I'll cloak and run away before having to use this." I assured him.

He led Williams and the lieutenant ahead of us, their rifles held at the ready; constantly surveying the area. I fell into step with Jenkins, who was walking awkwardly under the unconscious turian's weight. The man, if he could be called that - he barely looked older than eighteen - grinned at me greeting.

"So, Miss Har-"

I flinched and held up my hand to cut him off. "Please, just call me Nikki."

"Okay, Nikki. You said you're from here?" Jenkins asked, stumbling a little under Nihlus' weight.

"Yeah, I was born here. At fourteen I was sent off for schooling on the Citadel and stayed. I miss it here though." I replied, looking around the spaceport. It was situated halfway up the mountainside, and the view was spectacular.

"No shit, I was born here too!" Jenkins exclaimed, stumbling again in his excitement. He stopped and shifted Nihlus a little before he continued. "I must not recognize you since you're on the Citadel most of the time."

"Yeah, been gone thirteen years now." I grinned. "I've spent almost as much time in space as I have planetside." That realization made me frown slightly. I wasn't sure how I felt about having spent half my life in space.

"Wow, I hadn't realized you were that much older than me." He blurted out, bringing me back to the present topic.

"Nice." I replied as I rolled my eyes. "You sure have some tact there, Jenkins." I said it sarcastically, but it apparently went over his head.

His face and ears flushed red in embarrassment. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean it that way…."

I laughed. "Don't worry about it. What happened to him?" I asked, nodding toward the red-plated turian he was carrying.

"We're not totally sure." Jenkins replied, looking around. "We found him like this at the dock on the other side of the tram station. A dock-worker said Nihlus was inspecting something, when another turian approached him. Nihlus called him Saren, and they spoke to one another as if they were friends or something." He grunted and shifted Nihlus a bit again. "Nihlus turned his back on Saren, and that's when he shot him. Either Nihlus has some weird reflex or Saren missed because the bullet only grazed his temple. Apparently that pissed Nihlus off enough to attack Saren. They had one hell of a fist fight, and Saren got the upper hand, pinned Nihlus and slammed his face into the deck."

I ran my hand through my short hair. It all seemed to go back to that damn turian. "Saren… why the hell is he doing this?" I stopped short, flailing my hands uselessly in anger. "Why destroy the colony for the beacon? He could have just sent the geth in to get it and not expose himself…." I trailed off, lost in my thoughts.

"So, Saren really is in charge of this whole thing?" Jenkins asked incredulously. "No shit. The council is going to have a field day when they hear this!"

His statement pulled at me - my dad had said pretty much the same thing just a few hours before. I hoped he had made it back to the house at least. I brought up my omni-tool and placed a call to him, just to check in. After two tries with no response, typed a quick message to let him know the bombs were disabled and he should head back to the house; I'd be back soon. I was beginning to worry; dad never ignored my calls, he always picked up. Although I had no idea if the jamming signal I'd discovered earlier had anything to do with it. I resolved to try again later.

The sound of gunfire ahead of us made me look up from my omni-tool and over to Jenkins. His eyes widened for a moment, before his features twisted into determination. He gently set Nihlus down against a crate, then stood up and turned to me.

"Stay here with Nihlus, I'm going to go back up the commander." He said quickly, his demeanor changing from easygoing kid, to trained alliance soldier.

"No, wait," I grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. "I'm not very good with guns, what am I supposed to do if we get attacked?" I asked, panic beginning to take over. "Please, don't go." I begged. For the first time since the geth arrived I was truly scared.

Jenkins sighed. "You'll be fine. We cleared out all the geth behind us, and the dock below isn't big, they won't get past us." He replied, trying to sound soothing. The gunfire increased, and we both craned our necks trying to see what was happening, but we were still too far away.

I took a deep breath to try and calm myself. After exhaling, I realized he was right; he needed to help Shepard more than he needed to babysit an unconscious turian and a nerd who barely knew how to use a pistol. If he stayed much longer, the fight may well end up where we were.

"Go," I gestured with my hand towards the dock. "I'll be here, trying to not get shot."

Jenkins chuckled. "I'll be right back, don't worry." He replied before sauntering off, pulling out his assault rifle as he went. I watched him disappear down the stairs leading to the dock with trepidation. Being alone was freaking me out.

To put my mind at ease, I tried calling my dad again. There was still no answer, which didn't help my state of mind. I stood behind the crate next to Nihlus, my hands holding the pistol, pointed at the staircase; my elbows resting on top of the crate for support. I kept my eyes peeled for any geth until the gunfire stopped. I waited for a full minute of silence before relaxing my stance. Moments later, Jenkins came trotting back up the stairs with the lieutenant in tow.

Just as they caught sight of me, their faces fell, Jenkins shouting, "Nikki, behind you!" as both men raised their rifles. I spun around coming face to face with a geth unit. I had no time to react as the geth raised it's rifle and fired.

Time seemed to stand still; I heard the two men shouting behind me, the sound of their gunfire, and I watched wit distant fascination as the geth in front of me was shredded in the hail of fire. I felt like i was slowly falling to the ground, and it wasn't until my knees made contact with the cold metal surface that made up the platform did I register the searing pain in my left shoulder.

I dropped the pistol and groaned, grabbing my left arm with my right hand in an attempt to ease the pain. It didn't work. Tears streamed from my face as finished falling onto my right shoulder.

"Nikki!" I heard Jenkins voice, but couldn't bear to open my eyes; the pain now radiating through every part of my body. My shoulder felt like it was on fire, and all I wanted was for someone to put it out.

"Shit, she's bleeding badly!" I heard the lieutenant shout, closer than Jenkins had been.

I cried out as someone put pressure on the wound, causing that searing hot pain to increase tenfold.

"Here's some medi-gel…" a voice trailed off. The pain created a haze that made it difficult to hear. My head spun, or rather, the world spun beneath me as I strained to figure out what was going on.

"She's lost a lot of blood…." another voice said.

Suddenly, the pain seemed to abate, and everything went black.


End file.
